Medicare to Pay for Lung
Screenings for Smokers
According to today’s New York
Times, Medicare has agreed to pay for long-time smokers to receive Lung Cancer
screenings. The policy will cover individuals aged 55-74 who have smoked a pack
a day for 30 years or longer. Based on the proposal, Medicare will cover annual
screenings for around four million people. A panel of government health experts
claims that the change in policy can potentially save 20,000 American lives a
year. While these individuals receiving the screenings pay nothing due to the
nature of the Affordable Care Act, the cost of each one of these screenings is
an estimated $241. Policymakers spent months debating the cost versus benefit
of adopting this policy. While it can lead to benefit for a very large portion
of the population, it does take money out of taxpayer’s pockets to help
individuals who have put themselves at risk due to their habits.
Although I
agree with the policy, and believe that the social benefit of saving thousands
of lives outweighs the cost of administering the procedures, the amount of
money that will be put towards the cause is large. A study published last May
projected that paying for these screenings would cost Medicare $9 billion over
five years, or around $3 per month per beneficiary. While that is not a
staggering number relative to government expenses, it makes sense that some
people are outraged over the policy. Some individuals do not agree that individuals
who have smoked excessively for years deserve to reap the benefits of
treatments that specifically target the habit. Their view on the subject is
that if an individual smokes a significant amount, he or she should be held
accountable for doing so and that the taxpayers’ money should not be used to
assist him or her.
All said in done, it still could
never be as bad of a decision as the $654 million baseball field built in
Miami!
Sources:
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/11/us/medicare-proposes-paying-for-lung-cancer-screenings-for-older-longtime-smokers.html?ref=politics&_r=0
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